Why is President Noynoy Aquino ‘baffled’ by high unemployment in the Philippines?

It is quite revealing that Philippine President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III would, one moment, confidently credit himself with the Philippines’ purportedly robust economic numbers then, on another, be left scratching his dome as to the reasons why the “positive” nature of these so-called indicators are not translating to jobs and smiles for the majority of Filipinos. Indeed, the Inquirerreports today that the President is “baffled” by the galloping unemployment recently revealed in a Social Weather Stations (SWS) “survey” which showed that joblessness increased by a whopping 27.5 percent last year.

The distress this has caused President BS Aquino is seemingly such that he had called a rare full Cabinet meeting in which he grilled his lieutenants on the matter.

Aquino “prayed for God’s guidance” at the start of the meeting, Malacañang said.

At press time, the Cabinet was still discussing the action plan as well as the “strategic framework of human development and poverty reduction,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said in a text message he sent to members of the media.

The action plan for poverty reduction is indispensable to the Aquino administration’s goal of “inclusive growth.” Poverty incidence in the country stood at 25.2 percent in 2012.

OFWs are really unemployed Filipinos disguised as expatriate workers.See, that is the whole trouble with being quick to establish causality between a bunch of nebulous statistics and the fortunes and well-being of the average Pinoy schmoe. Causality is a slippery eel. Unless you’ve got a PhD in the fuzzy “science” of Economics, you will be routinely hard-pressed to make even the foggiest semblance of a deterministic link between macro economic stats and the amount and quality of food that gets put on the dinner table of the average man-on-the-street. Usually wherever a lack of scientifically-examinable evidence of causality can be found, God gets pulled into the picture.

Funny that President BS Aquino is only now fretting about the elephantine problem that is Philippine joblessness. Manila Times columnist Ben Kritz wrote in his May 2013 article The Impractical Elitism of an Incorrect Perspective on Reform how “the fundamental problem of the country — an overall lack of prosperity, and an inequitable distribution of such prosperity as is actually present — has not changed (and will not change in the foreseeable future),” and that “if any progress is to be made, the effort towards it must begin with a clearly-defined, practicable strategy appropriate to the present social and political context.”

Furthermore (and, again, this is Kritz writing way back in mid-2013)…

In the past few months, the characterization of the Philippines by the rest of the world’s media has shifted from being a promising emerging economy to a country whose flashy new castle is built on a foundation of sand; for all the positive indications of a healthy stock market, growing GDP, and improving credit ratings, poverty, unemployment, and the income gap not only persist, but are increasing. Just this week, we learned that perhaps as many as four million families — 20 million people, according to the official definition of “average family” — regularly go hungry. These are immediate problems, for which there are more immediate solutions than the abstractions of casual political theory. The work that needs to be done now requires pragmatism, compromise, and a short-term focus. But if that work is done, and done correctly, the necessity — and more importantly, the national ambition — for remolding Philippine society in true first-world fashion will arise.

The trouble with President BS Aquino is that he is an avowed ignorer of his perceived critics — which is probably why he missed this gem half a year ago and is now “quizzing” his henchmen on what their anti-poverty “strategy” might be.

As we have for so long pointed out, no amount of money thrown into a society that woefully lacks the cutting-edge imagination needed to make productive use of any resource it lays its hands on will yield fruit any more than seeds sowed on a slab of rock will take root and grow into edible material. If we stop to recall that, half a century ago, the Philippines was a posterchild of natural abundance and a showcase of infrastructural wonder thanks to the hard work of its colonial masters we will be hard-pressed to explain how any more capital tossed to Filipinos to feast on will translate to sustainable progress. Indeed, owing to the renowned Reverse-Midas-Touch that has characterised Filipinos’ enterprising sensibilities, much of the lushness of Las Islas Felipinas has long been unceremoniously scraped off her now barren skin and Uncle Sam’s and King Philip’s carefully-crafted infrastructure replaced with Pinoy-engineered lemons.

Much of the Philippine economy’s star quality trumpeted by both local and foreign media in the last couple of years is really all just an outcome of cosmetic flashery. The reality of the substance underlying this stardom is far more stark. The Philippines is no more than a consumer market. Filipinos simply spend their money and spend their days finding ever more creative ways to convince themselves how much they deserve to spend their money on the latest trinket or gadget.

In that kind of a market, what sorts of industries is the Philippines likely to attract? Most likely this: industries that will further grease the pipeline that channels cheap manufactured goods from highly-capitalised economies to the living rooms of increasingly impoverished Filipinos. Filipinos, in turn, will increasingly fund these purchases with the same old labour-intensive solutions — working overseas and working for the factories and retail outlets that manufacture and sell them these trinkets.

If we begin with our simple definition of poverty; its being…

A habitual entering into commitments one is inherently unable to honour;

…we will quite easily see that unemployment is really not a complicated issue either. The trouble with the Philippine labour force is that its fortunes are dependent on sources of employment that are beyond the abilities of their compatriots and government to influence. Given this situation, the absolute dumbness of continuing to churn out barrels of warm bodies in embarrassingly large quantities every year is highlighted. The ingredients fit the poverty equation perfectly:

(1) Churning out vast numbers of future workers every year is the commitment.

(2) An inherent inability to employ these workers in the future is the failure to honour the above commitment.

El horror de los resultados: The mind-numbingly crushing poverty we see today in the Philippines.

So you see, unemployment is really a simple issue. What is really baffling here, Mr President, is why it takes an entire Cabinet to figure that out.

Consider also, that BS Aquino would most likely not have paid any attention to that unemployment figure had it not come from SWS or any of those survey makers whose “results” he places inordinate importance on.

If it were any other entity saying this, he wouldn’t really be giving it the time of day, really. He would be dismissing it as “part of the noisy minority”, or those “who are part of a movement set to derail his daang matuwid“

30+ years ago south korea was the poorest nation in asia, and one of the poorest in the world, with high corruption, political instability, little foreign investments and high unemployment. They established a very clear practical strategy which was implemented, and included the fruits of re-branding, increasing r&d expenditure, value added services and high tech manufacturing, plus insourcing skills, high expenditure on a revised educational programme, and establishing intellectual property as a country asset, is paying dividends with long term solid foundations Gdp growth is 1%, but unemployment now is just 2.9%. – this is inclusive growth. Whilst problems persist,… Read more »

Can’t believe he’s baffled by this. Majority of this unemployed are the non college graduates. We don’t have jobs for them because we almost don’t have a manufacturing industry, agriculture has become a minor industry, also not enough construction projects.

Looking at the world with banana colored glasses. The guy never had to face crisis as an adult. Explains why he is so bewildered. I have been sat down by some of my elders saying that the unemployment stats will eventually correlate with the other stats they sprout as metrics that validate Aquino as leader of this nation. I really do not seek out discussions with those with yellow fever. They made up their minds a long time ago to lose their minds over a career non achiever as the best choice for leader of this nation for six years.… Read more »

Maybe children should be taught skills in school, and to think, and not with ridiculous propaganda – educational modules introduced in 2013 on EDSA and cory aquino! Brainwashing will not get you a job -except as a yellow troll. Maybe that is the big plan!

Let us take a look a typical employment ad in the newspaper: WANTED- retail clerk, female from 20-29, college graduate, fit, pleasant personality, team player, and must have computer skills. Only born again Christians need apply. Does that position need computer skills to ring up a sale on a cash register? Do they need a college degree? Do they need to have an attractive body? Do they need to be young? Do they need to be Christian? Even if they are able to jump through all the hoops, they will be working 16 hours a day, 6 days a week… Read more »

You don’t need any Degree of Economics, to figure that out. Or grill, people for answers. All you do, is open your eyes. Go to the Squatters area, and see how people live. Or go to your Hacienda Luisita tenants; and see how they live.

You can also see the long lines, of people trying to get out of the country ; and become OFWs (economic refugees).

Aquino was awarded a PhD from Fordham University. I will not be surprised, if the University will take back his PhD…and give back his money…

What? Abnoy Aquino baffled of the high unemployment rate in his watch? He should tell himself that he is not only a Moron and Stupid but, most of all isa siyang Sira Ulong Demonyo.
Panahon na para lipulin ang ugat ng kasamaan tulad ni Abnoy, mga Yellow Tards at higit sa lahat yang mga Propagandists niya tulad ng ABias-CBN.

Even people who are employed at call center jobs
would fall into the ‘poverty’ level if it was determined by 1st world standards.
the fact that filipino’s do not understand that the jobs being imported to the country are exploiting them to work for less than someone in EU or USA would work for, and dats dat bullshit right dere,yeah, flies right over there heads….idiots.

The critical component/measurement which goes a long way in explaining why no progress is being made is the poverty elasticity of growth ( the multiplier effect of % growth to % poverty reduction). This varies significantly country to country, dependant upon their economic environment/fiscal policies/population growth etc. Closely allied to poverty elasticity is often the presence of a high level of income inequality ( the philippines has nearly the worst inequality in the world), and then even high levels of growth only have a marginal impact on job generation and poverty reduction as money generated is concentrated and sucked out… Read more »